A blanket of snow several inches deep carpeted parts of Northern Ireland today, as about 300 schools shut their doors and roughly 1,500 bus journeys were cancelled – but other parts were left virtually untouched by the blizzard-like conditions.

Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president Barclay Bell said the Province appeared “divided”, with Armagh and Down bearing the brunt of the snow.

The scene in Moneyrea, Co Down (left) as heavy snow blanketed many parts of Northern Ireland on March 1, 2018 (the first day of spring)... whilst other areas escaped unscathed, as this picture taken by Johanna Kula, looking towards north Belfast, shows

He told the News Letter that on Wednesday night he left a UFU meeting in Cookstown with no hint of snow, but then found conditions “really, really tricky” in Portadown.

And once he neared his Rathfriland home it was so bad he was forced to abandon his car five miles from the house, and call a Jeep to get him.

Readers sent images to the News Letter yesterday showing the extent of the snow in their areas, including a car almost totally obscured in a drift in Newtownhamilton, Armagh.

However, other areas were almost totally untouched.

A man is uninjured after slipping during the wintery weather in Belfast city centre on Thursday

For example, while the snow in Stormont (east Belfast) was thick enough for children to go sledging, in a belt from Newtownabbey, just to the north of the city, to Larne on the east coast, members of the public shared images showing totally green fields.

Mr Bell said farmers who are in snow-hit areas had reported problems with access to water and the ability to transport milk, and there are also concerns for the impact on sheep, given the snow has struck in the middle of lambing season.

“For livestock farmers, the biggest issue at the present time is frozen pipes and trying to get water to animals – a dairy cow could drink 100 litres in a day,” he said.

“Collection of milk – tankers trying to get down farm lanes – would be an issue as well. It just means you’re probably working twice as hard because it just takes so much longer to get everything done.”

No snow in Larne on Thursday

Five years ago this month, Northern Ireland had been hit by an incredible slew of snow, which buried flocks and led to mass fatalities of sheep.

“At this stage we haven’t heard of significant losses,” he said. “But obviously with those sort of temperatures and the wind chill factor ... it’s not good for a young lamb arriving.”

He also raised the prospect of problems getting fodder to animals if the snow persists.

Thursday’s weather conditions caused widespread travel disruption, with Translink saying around 13% – approximately 1,500 – out of its 12,000 bus journeys were cancelled, plus two trains, while the Belfast-Dublin rail service is not expected to run at all on Friday.

Meanwhile, as of about 6pm, 18 flights at Belfast International Airport (carrying 2,600 passengers) had been cancelled, with almost two dozen cancellations at Belfast City Airport too.

The Health and Social Care Board said the health system was “continuing to cope”, though in the Southern Health Trust area, nearly all hospital outpatients clinics were cancelled – something set to continue on Friday.

HOW BAD HAS IT BEEN, AND WILL IT GET WORSE?

Miriam Bruce and her dog Poppy pictured out for a walk in the snow in Shaw's Bridge in Belfast

The lowest temperature in Northern Ireland on Thursday was -6.3C, recorded by the Met Office just after midnight in Derrylin, Fermanagh.

However this did not compare with the Great Britain low of -10.3C in Scotland.